What Was the Transportation Revolution, Why Was It Needed and What Did It Tie Together

Unfortunately, with few exceptions, navigable rivers and lakes did not link up conveniently to form usable transportation networks. Before the war of 1812m some Americans considered canals as a likely solution, but enormous costs and engineering problems had limited canal construction to less than 100 miles. After the war, the entry of development opened the way to an era of canal building. New York State was most successful at canal development. In 1817 the state started work on on a canal that would run over more than 350 miles’ form Lake Erie to the Hudson River. About three thousand workers worked on digging a huge ditch that would eventually form the Erie Canal. The last leg was completed in 1825 and the first freight boat made its way from Buffalo to Albany and then on to New York

Railroads were faster and cheaper than canals to construct, and they did not freeze over in the winter. Steamboats played a vital role in the United States economy as well. They stimulated the agricultural economy of the west by providing better access to markets at a lower cost. Farmers quickly bought land near navigable rivers, because they could ship their products out to other countries. Due to the foreign trade it helped strengthen the trade relationship between New England and the Northwest. The transportation development had many positive economic changes in the United States.

When Americans get into their vehicles every day to go to work or school, they do not normally think about how much transportation has evolved over the years. People started out walking and then later moved to horse and buggies. During the early 1800’s, railroads were being built from east to west in this country and trains began to take over. As cities grew, people looked for ways to travel more efficiently. The work of Henry Ford made a lasting impact on America in regards to both transportation and manufacturing.

The market and transportation revolution in the 19th century, subsequently caused huge changes in the economic, social, and independent markets in the United states. The market revolution boom, largely attributable to better technologies, excelling the growth of factories and mass productions. The transportation revolution was a byproduct of the expanding of railroads, canals, and shipping of the products. Of which opened an entirely new way to sell and purchase products, crops, and other goods with more than just small town communities.

Once railroads were built, shipping by them became increasingly popular. Shipping domestically became cheaper and quicker, which elevated the U.S. economy. In Document E, the cost to ship by wagon is recorded to be twenty times the cost by railroad. Furthermore, the article describes wagon shipping “ was $1.77, while by rail it was less than a tenth of that amount.” Before the invention of the Transcontinental Railroad, trade was limited to wagons being driven for days on end. Few people considered the drive, so the price was high to ship. Besides high prices, canals were

Before the railroad was made, the journey to move products and people was long and expensive. Paying 5 dollars and 31 cents to move your product was an expensive form of transport, so when the railroad came around paying for shipping was a much easier task. In document E it makes the point clear that shipping when the railroad was made was less than a tenth of the cost of traveling by wagon. Because the railroad cut down on the cost of shipping, more people were able to get their product out all across the country and increasing commerce between

Not only were economics majorly revolutionized during this time period but transportation transformed as well. Before the invention of the steam engine, goods were hauled by horse drawn carriages and the journey was a long and difficult one. Robert Fulton was the first to build a steamboat successfully. This caused for a wave of change and soon goods were hauled across the Atlantic (“Industrial Revolution”) After the rapid success of the steamboat, soon steam locomotives began to take the spotlight. The steamboat and locomotive enabled Americans to travel to different parts of the country in less tie add connected the U.S in a way that it had never been before.

The Erie Canal was set in the state of New York which would be built to connect Albany and Buffalo. The concept of the Erie Canal began fifty years before actually starting construction in 1817. However, completion of the Erie Canal did not end until 1825 which resulted in a water route 364-miles long that connected the Hudson River in Albany and the Great lakes in Buffalo. Industrialization was sped up by the Erie Canal decades after it was completed because it improved transportation, trade, commerce and settlement in the United States.

Some of the other areas that were motivated by this movement were in the way we cultivate our goods, the mode of communication and the need for better transportation for goods. During the Agricultural Revolution, the farmers were introduced to a new way of cultivating ten times the area of land that they originally were able to do. The reason was that the greatest invention of this period came along and was introduced as the steel plow. Another area that made a drastic change was in the way that society received communication with the telegraph. This concept would ensure that individuals would receive political news, the price of goods or when merchandise was available within moments of it being sent over the wires. However, there was still a need for technology changes that would increase production and transportation. Although it took several years to complete the Transportation Revolution, still it was the start of transporting goods in a more efficient manner. This new technology would help to upgrade steamboats for the new canals being built, and later the development of railroad engines and cars for faster travel using the new railroad tracks, In fact, by 1860 they had laid more than thirty thousand miles of train track throughout the

Surely this was not the first time this came across the governments mind. In 1803 Ohio joined the union the federal government decided that they should help finance road construction, creating a national road from the Potomac River to the Ohio River was an idea Purposed by Albert Gallatin after being delayed numerous times the construction building of this road begun in 1818. When completed their were high tolls but despite that Conestoga wagons, private carriages also cattle’s were taken across the mountains and cost lower than ever to do so. Subsequent to this there steam powered shipping was expanding quickly. Robert Fulton helped make the steam boat come into a reality even if he did not invent it by 1816 river steamers were going up and down the Mississippi and Ohio River all the way to Pittsburgh being be to hold a greater quantity of cargos than what the flatboats, barges and more all combined together. The river steamers motivate the agricultural economy of the west and the south, contributing much easier access to the markets and allowing the eastern manufactures to send good over to the west. Although the steam boats and the roads are running on good progress there were gaps because when the Britain cut the blockade across the Atlantic the roads started to produce

Expanding to the west allowed people to transport better and to find a better way of transporting their goods. Expansion to the west also helped create water links and canals like the Erie. The transportation revolution was the first major event that occurred in the Market Revolution. Transportation opened the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, which made it easier for people to travel (Yawp, 8). With transportation getting better, it allowed for people to improve the road networks, which made great improvements in the way people and goods were transported.

Another great invention of transportation during this time was the train. America’s first train was invented by George Stephenson in 1822, and by 1825 the train was the first locomotive. Obviously everything at this time was made by hand, and every part of this engine had to be hammered into shape just like a horseshoe. John Thorswall, a coalmine blacksmith, was George’s assistant. The invention of George was very important in America because it allowed transportation from place to place in a quicker time. This boosted the economy by helping distribute many goods all around the country. Even letters were being delivered faster, so communication was increasing.

Railroads were the linchpin in the new industrialized economy. The railroad industry enabled raw materials, finished products, food, and people to travel cross-country in a matter of days, as opposed to the months or years that it took just prior to the Civil War. By the end of the war, the United States boasted some 35,000 miles of track, mostly in the industrialized North. By the turn of the century, that number had jumped to almost 200,000 miles, linking the North, South, and West. With these railroads making travel easier, millions of rural Americans flocked to the cities, and by 1900, nearly 40 percent of the population lived in urban areas.

In addition with the invention of the steam engine came the steam locomotive. As the development of steam engines progressed through the 18th century, various attempts were made to apply them to road and railway us. In 1812 Matthew Murray was the first to build a successful steam locomotive, and it hauled 27 carts of around 95 tonnes at 3 mph. Accompanied with this came Richard Trevithick’s 40 psi steam locomotive, The Penydarren Locomotive, “the world's first ever railway journey that ran 9 miles from the ironworks at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal, South Wales.” This creation lead to many more innovations, which will lead to speedy land travel for goods and products.

agreed to keep a stretch of road in good repair if they could charge a